Information: Federal Court Arraignments

The United States Attorney's Office today announced that those persons listed below were arraigned before the U.S. Magistrate and the indictments handed down by the Grand Jury unsealed.

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ostby in Billings on January 17, 2014 and entering pleas of Not Guilty were:

• MICHAEL ALLAN ERHART, a 32-year-old resident of Billings appeared on charges of conspiracy with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, distribution of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting. If convicted of the most serious offenses charged in the indictment, ERHART faces life in prison, $10,000,000 in fines and 5 years supervised release. The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Task Force. PACER Case Reference: 14-07

• MICHAEL CORY SEVERSON, a 45 year-old-resident of Billings appeared on charges of conspiracy with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, distribution of methamphetamine, aiding and abetting, and possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious offenses charged in the indictment, SEVERSON faces life in prison, $250,000 in fines and lifetime supervised release. The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Task Force. PACER Case Reference: 14-07

The indictment is merely a formal charging document. It is not proof of guilt and all persons indicted are presumed to be innocent of any crime until proof of guilt is established by trial or guilty plea.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is currently transitioning its media program to new media contacts. Resources and this transition may affect the amount of information the office can process and disclose in a timely manner. Therefore, if any of the above cases are of interest to your media organization and the community it serves, we encourage you to monitor the progress of the case regularly through the U.S. District Court calendar and the PACER system so that you stay current and not miss any important developments in the case.

To establish a PACER account, which will allow you to review documents filed in the case, please go to, http://www.pacer.gov/register.html.

To access the district court's calendar, please go to https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.